This invention relates to record pads having repositionable adhesive on the back of each sheet in the pad.
In recent years pads of paper in which each sheet has a marginal stub area bearing on its underside a band of non-drying, slightly-tacky adhesive which, while permanently bonded to the underside of the sheet, only temporarily bonds to other surfaces, including to the stub areas of the top surfaces of respectively adjacent like sheets in the stack which constitutes the pad, have become very popular.
The general concept of such a product is disclosed in the Swiss Patent of Eugster 452,479 dated 31 May 1968.
Eugster discloses a paper pad that is composed of self-adhesive individual sheets and is characterized in that each sheet is detachably joined to the sheet underneath it by means of a non-drying adhesive and in that the strip of adhesive provided at the edge of each individual sheet has one side which is smooth and adherent but does not take up adhesive while the other side carries the adhesive. The side carrying the adhesive may be arranged on the underside of the sheet. The adhesive applied to this side cannot be removed without chemical agents. When two such surfaces of adhesive strip which have been glued together are separated, virtually all the adhesive is left on the underside while the upper surface remains unwetted.
When assembling such a pad with the aid of non-drying adhesive the top edge of each individual sheet is mechanically pressed with its underside, which receives adhesive, to the smooth upper surface of the other sheet, which does not take up adhesive. The individual sheets are thereby bonded together but they are not permanently fixed together; that is to say, they are not glued together but can be separated one by one by hand. When a sheet is removed, the adhesive is left on the underside of the sheet so that the sheet which has been removed can be fixed by light finger pressure to another surface without the use of fresh adhesives.
Adhesives and paper useful in making such products are well known in the particular area.
It is also known to provide multiple sheet forms with carbonless coating for producing multiple copies of an original writing and reference may be made by way of example to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,981,523; 4,126,334 and 4,199,174.
British Patent Specification No. 2,214,131 describes a pad with record sheets and removable sheets disposed in pairs. Transfer material is positioned between the record sheet and the removable sheet of each pair and a strip of low tack adhesive is provided along the marginal edge of the removable sheet with a perforation line in the removable sheet within the strip of low tack adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,740 relates to a multi-sheet pad with repositionable adhesive on the top pad, with a perforation for connecting common margins of both the top and record sheets of the pad together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,276 shows a multi-sheet pad with release adhesive disposed at different points along the pad, and with marginal tabs extending beyond the edges of adjacent sheets. There is no connection at the marginal tabs, however, but rather the sheets are connected together by adhesive at the opposite end of the pad from the marginal tabs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,401 provides a pad with repositionable adhesive in a carbonless imaging system but there are no outwardly extending margin areas that are fastened together.
According to the invention, an improved record pad is provided. The improved record pad is made up of a plurality of sets of sheets in which a message or other data may be applied to the top sheet of the set and a copy of the message or other data made on the underlying record sheet, and in which the top sheet of the set may be detached leaving the record copy sheet remaining.
According to the present invention a record pad comprises a plurality of sheet sets, each set comprising at least a removable top copy sheet and an underlying record copy sheet in which the top copy sheet lies in close juxtaposition on the underlying record copy sheet and bears a strip of repositionable adhesive adjacent an edge of the record copy sheet and in which the record copy sheet extends beyond the edge of the top copy sheet to provide a margin which margin serves to be secured to other margins of the pad for record purposes.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simple yet effective pad with bound record sheets, and top sheets with release adhesive. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.